Published: Sep 24, 2026, 2:28 PM
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McDonald's on Wednesday announced new details as part of its long-term growth strategy, which will include a focus on upgrading restaurants and staff training, at an investor day at the corporate headquarters in Chicago.
The fast-food giant announced its NEXT growth and productivity strategy in June and outlined plans to implement changes throughout its system.
McDonald's said that to speed up the modernization of restaurants, deployment of technology and other operational improvements, it plans to provide about $8.5 billion in NEXT partnering support for franchisees through 2036, with roughly $5 billion provided through 2030.
The NEXT support for franchisees will include a combination of capital support and rent relief.
The support comes with a target of about 250 basis points of gross restaurant-level efficiency improvements amounting to about $100,000 in annual cash flow benefits for the average restaurant, with the company saying the majority of that would benefit the restaurant's bottom line over time.
McDonald's announcement noted that the restaurant component of the plan aims to boost growth and productivity through simplified operations, elevated execution, modernized restaurant design and deploying generative AI-enabled ArchIQ at scale.
The company also announced a multiyear training program called "Make it Golden" that will begin on Founder's Day, Oct. 5, which aims to improve customer service to create more consistency for patrons and increase repeat visits.
"McDonald's has the unmatched scale, customer insights, brand loyalty, and operational capabilities to not only adapt to the next wave of change in our industry, but to turn it into an advantage," said McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski. "That's what McDonald's > NEXT is about: to be the first choice for more customers, more often – while making our restaurants stronger and easier to run."
Ticker Security Last Change Change % MCD MCDONALD'S CORP. 238.32 -12.03 -4.81%
"We are confident that executing across the key components of NEXT will unlock stronger restaurant economics, generate attractive returns for the Company, our franchisees and shareholders, and increase capacity to keep investing in growth," Kempczinski added.
McDonald's announcement also included new market share targets, calling for 1.5 percentage points of growth in both chicken and beverages by 2030, while also maintaining the company's leadership in beef market share.
Sales growth from unit expansion is also targeted to contribute nearly 2.5% to system-wide sales growth in 2027, moderating to about 2% by 2030.
